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How Conservatives Won the Law

A liberal political scientist recounts the rise of the Federalist Society—and explains his sympathy
for some of its ideas.

By

Jason Willick

July 20, 2018 6:38 p.m. ET

Washington

When I was a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, the College Republicans announced plans to hold an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale.” The idea was to offer minorities and women discounts on cupcakes while white males would pay full price. This led to an emergency meeting of the student government and widespread calls to defund the group or shut down the event. For its organizers, that alone made it a wild success.